Picture Books to Inspire Unique Story Organization

I  had a lot of fun considering favorite picture books as I considered the variety of ways one could organize a story. So many times in elementary school kids are given a prescription for writing and they must follow that. Obviously many stories follow a traditional structure with a clear beginning, a middle, and an end in which the main character has changed. I think this is the default way teachers and students expect to have to write.

Writing is more fun when students are free to organize their thoughts or ideas creatively.  The following four types of picture book organization are unique ways to organize a story. The books I mention will provide inspiration for young writers by demonstrating different book structures and encouraging students to organize a story in a different way. 

I like to use a familiar story to teach unique organization. First, we read a variety of books with similar organization and compare them. My Goldilocks unit, for example, compares a few of the same stories. The Literature Lesson Plan includes a list with many traditional and traditional versions of the Goldilocks tradition.

But to be extra creative, one needs to think even farther outside the box. One great writing mentor text to accompany the traditional tale tells Goldilock's story backwards. To use this mentor text, begin by reading a traditional Goldilocks story, and then read Previously by Allan Ahlberg and illustrated by Bruce Ingram. The events of the story still happen, but they appear in a completely unique way, giving a new twist and background to Goldilock's story.

What other story might be even more interesting backwards? Encourage your students to write their own backwards story, using a familiar tale as inspiration.

Some books that are completely different might not be able to name the beginning, middle, and end. A circle story certainly has a one-of-a-kind story organization.

I love Because Amelia Smiled by David Ezra Stein. This follows a circle pattern of organization. In it, Amelia smiles, which causes Miss Higgins to make her son cookies and send them to Mexico, and so forth, all the way back to Amelia and the reason behind her smile. This creative organization makes for a feel-good story, but it's also a creative way to show our influence in the world besides writing with a traditional beginning, middle, and end.

A very familiar circle story is the story If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. I highly encourage reading Because Amelia Smiled instead to show that the circle story can have a variety of forms. It works perfectly for illustrating the circle concept, without the younger connotation associated with the books in the other series, which does begin to feel repetitive.

Another creative approach to story organization is the concept book. Admittedly, these get tiresome, so it's always a joy to find a creative ABC book, colors book, or counting to ten book. If Rocks Could Sing by Leslie McGuirk is an example of a concept book that gives a new approach. Ms McGuirk collects pretty rocks off the coast of Florida, and this book is a collection of the rocks she found that make pretty shapes: letters and numbers, animals, etc. This is a wonderfully organized way of showing off her rock collection!

Teachers and students can use If Rocks Could Sing as an inspiration for making their own concept books. Students can look for letters, numbers, or colors in their own environment and take photos. What is their collection? 

And then we have a book I found just this week. How to by Julie Morstad features picture of kids doing something, with a "how to" direction at the top. For example, the cover shows a girl drawing on the ground. That page correlates to "how to make friends." I loved the creative way of organizing the ideas of what kids like to do, and the effect those fun things have on others.

As students and teachers consider the connections between our actions and the results, they could make their own "how to" book. 

When we read books with such creative story organization structures, it helps us consider the ways we could organize our ideas. Reading widely and of a variety of styles helps students develop confidence in considering their own creative writing organization styles. Writing creatively is freeing!

Are you looking for writing prompts for your elementary school students? Click here to see more writing activities and writing prompts that I've shared on this blog!